Hyundai Engineering and Construction, the nation’s top builder, said Friday its net earnings for the second quarter surged 20.8 percent on-year to 156.9 billion won ($152.1 million), helped by the start of large-scale overseas projects.

Operating profit soared 39.3 percent to 279.6 billion won in the same period, with sales numbers jumping 35.5 percent from the year before to a little more than 4.7 trillion won, the company said in a regulatory filing.

“The sharp increase in earnings across the board is the result of large construction work being started in places such as Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, and a persistent effort to manage risks as well as cutting costs,” the builder said in a press release.

At present, the builder, a construction arm of Hyundai Motor Group, has some 61.6 trillion won worth of orders it has to fulfill, making it very likely to meet this year’s sale target of 18 trillion won. (Yonhap)